Mura 10: Using Mura

Introduction

The foundation of Mura is content. Editing, managing, and delivering content in a variety of custom and bespoke formats. The goal of Mura is to make all of this as easy and flexible as possible, no matter the level of experience or desired outcome.

In this section we will examine these topics in detail, from the basics of Editing Content to laying out and presenting that content, adding forms and comments, increasing usability through components and related content and more complicated topics such as building custom collections or controlling access. We will also examine advanced topics such as managing large updates via change sets and Approval Chains.

Basic Content

This section introduces Mura's robust front-end Layout Manager, and explains the basics creating and managing content, including logging in, making content edits, and creating new content in the Mura admin. 

 

Basic Content Tabs

These are the sections that you will most likely visit when updating or creating content, and are generally available to all content editors.

Basic Tab

When you select a content item to edit it, you're taken to the "Edit Content" screen. This will give you access to the content editor (CKEditor), and there are several tabs listed across the side of the screen. The first of these, and the mostly likely to be edited, is the Basic Tab.

By default, the "Basic" tab is displayed. The "Basic" tab contains some of the most critical and commonly used form fields that are used for Mura CMS content. Some of the feilds have "additional functionality" options that will temporarily replace the content editor with the associated settings. To return to the editor, you simply click on the Done button in the top-right corner of that page.

Field Description
Type This displays the content type selected when the content item was created. You have the option to change the content type here. Some content types aren't exactly compatible with others, which is why you may not see "File" as an option when the original content item was a "Page" or "Folder" content type.
Title This is the most important field for any content item. It's also the only required form field by default. The text entered here typically appears as the page title, just above the content. The value entered here will be used to automatically create all other title fields, listed below, if they are left blank. Hence, when you change the value entered here, a prompt will be displayed asking if you wish to "Clear Additional Titles." Often times, you'll want to take advantage of this feature.
Navigation Title (Optional) The value entered here will be used for any navigation that's automatically generated by Mura. For example, it will be the text displayed on the primary or sub-navigation of your site.
URL Redirection (Optional) The value entered here will be used for any navigation that's automatically generated by Mura. For example, it will be the text displayed on the primary or sub-navigation of your site.
URL Title (Optional) The value entered here will appear in the browser's address bar. For example, "About Us" would become "about-us" and when combined with the full domain, will appear as http://www.yourdomain.com/about-us
HTML (Browser) Title (Optional) The value entered here will appear on the browser's chrome or browser tab
URL Redirection This allows you to have this page redirect to another url instead of displaying, or to allow multiple urls to be associated (and display) to this page. You can use the Manage Redirects option to customize this feature.
Content Parent This allows you to assign a new "parent" aka the page the current page you are editing lives below. Click on Select New Parent to search for and select the new page.

Summary Tab

The Summary tab contains both the page summary and "meta" fields for enhancing the content for internal items like folder landing pages and search results, and external sources like search engines.

Field Description
Summary The text entered into this field is shown in special circumstances. The first is when the content item is a direct child of a Folder content type, the value from this field is typically displayed along with the Title, Associated Image, and a few other fields in the Folder listing. The other instance is when the content item has been restricted to public view, and the user attempting to view the content is not logged in. It will appear just above the log in screen. So, be careful to not enter any confidential information into this field unless your development team has instructed you that it's safe to do so because of some modification they've made to Mura CMS.
Credits This field is much like a "byline" in a newspaper article, where you may enter the name(s) of the writer(s) of the the content. Information entered here may appear on the parent content item, if the parent is a Folder content type. This is especially useful when the content item itself is being used as a traditional "news" or "blog" item.
Meta Description Information entered here is used for the description attribute within the <meta> tag for the specific content item. See https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en#1 for information on creating good meta descriptions.
Meta Keywords Information entered here is used for the keywords attribute within the <meta> tag for the specific content item. In the early days of web sites, this field was used by search engines in their web search ranking algorithms. However, information entered here is mostly ignored by search engines these days, as in 2009 Google officially announced they do not use the keywords in their web ranking
Canonical URL This is the explicit URL for the page, which is useful to search engines if you have assigned several alternate URLs to the page.
Notes These are editor-only notes for the page and not displayed on the front end (however they may be included in remote API calls).

Image Tab

The image tab allows you to assign an associated image to the page.

Field Description
Assign Associated Image This is a very special field where you can upload a primary image to be used along with the content item itself. The first is when the content item is a direct child of a "Folder" content type, the image is typically displayed along with the Title, Summary, and a few other fields in the Folder listing. Next, it will typically display on the content item itself. The size, and placement are determined by the layout and theme used. It can also be displayed on a "Folder" when it's a direct child of the Folder itself in the listing.
  • You can either upload an image, enter a known URL of an image, or even select an existing associated by searching for one.
  • The buttons above the image allow you to perform various actions.
    • The crop marks button will direct you to the "Image Details" screen where you can adjust the image orientation, as well as create new crops for each of the defined image sizes.
    • The info button will launch the "Edit Image Properties" window. Here, you can enter values into a number of various metadata fields.
    • The download button will launch an alert asking if you wish to download the file. Select "OK" to download.

Advanced Content Tabs

When editing content via the back-end administration area of Mura, or using the "Full Edit" feature from the front-end public-facing view of your site, the various fields that are available for content items are grouped together within tabs. You can think of the Edit Content screen as simply one, giant form, because that's essentially all it is.

The "Basic Tab" is covered under the "Basic Content" section. In this section, we'll cover the other tabs available to you when editing content.

If you see a down arrow on the far right of the listing of tabs, simply click the arrow to view the additional tabs. This occurs when the browser is too narrow to display them all within the browser's viewport.

Note: If you don't see one of the tabs specified in this section, the group(s) you belong to may not have been granted access to those tabs.

Your site may also include tabs not identified in this section of the site. If so, your instance of Mura CMS is most likely using a custom plugin used specifically to create custom tabs and fields unique to your organization's needs.

Publishing

The Publishing tab is where you manage a content item's publishing-related fields such as Credits, Meta Description, Meta Keywords, Restrict Access to Specific Group(s), whether or not to Include in Site Navigation, whether or not to Display the content item, etc.

Field Description
Feature This field is a meta data field used to determine whether or not you wish the content item to be featured within the section is resides. This is useful when creating Collections, and you wish to highlight the specific content item. For example, a "Featured News" Collection might scan through all content items within the "News" section, and only pull out content items that have this field set to "Yes" or the date falls within the range specified under "Per Schedule."
  • No (default)
    • If selected, the content item will not be flagged as featured.
  • Yes
    • If selected, the content item will be flagged as featured.
  • Per Schedule
    • If the current date falls within the specified range, the content item will be flagged as featured. Otherwise, it will not be flagged as featured.
You may also use the Manage Shedule option to further refine this setting, which will bring up a separate form for setting start and end dates.
Include in Site Navigation
  • If "checked" or enabled, anywhere Mura auto-generates navigational links, the specific content item should be listed, unless the item is not on display.
  • If "un-checked" or disabled, Mura will not generate a link to the specific content item, however, if the content item is set to display and a user knows the URL of the content item, the content will display. This is useful when you wish to create content items such as landing pages from Google AdWords, or wish to have a Site Map, or other informational type page available to users, and don't wish to include a link in the primary navigation or sub-navigation.
Open in New Browser Window If enabled, when a user clicks a Mura-generated link to the content item, it will open a new tab or browser window.
Exclude from Site Search
  • If enabled, the content item will not be included in search results when using Mura's search capabilities.
    Note: This does not control whether or not links to the content item will appear on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. If you wish to exclude the content item from commercial search engines, you could password protect the content by using the Restrict Access to Specific Group(s) setting. For more information on controlling website crawlers and search engine indexing, visit https://developers.google.com/webmasters/control-crawl-index/
Use as New Content Template If you are using the Layout Manager, this will allow you to uses this page as a starting copy/paste template when creating future versions. This page will NO LONGER appear in normal front-end navigation.
Lock Node If enabled, content managers will not be able to delete the content item.
Notify for Review
  • When enabled, Send to and Message fields will appear.
  • Send to
    • You may select one or more users to receive an email notification after saving or publishing the content item. To select more than one person, use <CTRL> + click (on a PC) or <CMD> + click (on a Mac).
  • Message
    • Text entered here will accompany a link to view the content item in the email notification.
Content Expiration
  • Entering a date/time in this field will simply flag the content item as "expired" and that it needs to be reviewed. It does not control whether or not the content item is on display. If you want a content item to stop displaying on or after a specific date/time, please use the Display field.

Scheduling

The Scheduling tab is where you schedule content for display, when a page is not meant to be continuously displayed.

Field Description
Display

This field controls whether or not the component will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.

  • Yes
    • If Yes, then the component will be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.
  • No
    • If No, the component will not be visible to users via the public, front-end view of your site.
  • Per Schedule
    • You may specify a schedule for the component to display, including the frequency of the display such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. and when the component should stop displaying, if ever.

Layout

The Layout tab is where you can manage Layout Templates, and Inheritance Rules for display objects.

Field Description
Layout Template Controls which layout template to use for the content item you're currently editing.
Alternate Child Layout Template Optionally select an alternate layout template to use by default for any children of this content item. If "none" is selected, child content items will use the selection from the "Layout Template" by default
Inheritance Rules
  • Inherit Cascade
    • This default option allows the content to inherit any display objects assigned to parent content items.
  • Start New Cascade
    • This option will prevent any display objects that have been assigned to parent content items from appearing, and begin a new cascade of display objects. This option is most commonly used when creating a top level section of the site such as News, or Blog sections, etc.
  • Do Not Inherit Cascade
    • This option will prevent any display objects assigned to the parent from displaying, yet allow those display objects to pass through to its children.
Select regions to inherit? You can selectively inherit only specified regions, as defined in your Site Settings.
Content Objects Since display objects are managed via the front-end public-facing view of the site, a link is provided to take you to that view in order to manage any content display objects.

Categories

The Categories tab is where you manage a content item's Categories. To learn more about Categories, including how to create/manage categories, and categorize content, visit the Categories section.

Tags

The Tags tab is where you manage a content item's Tags. Visit the Tags section to learn more about Mura Tags.

Extended Attributes

The Extended Attributes tab will appear if your site is using Class Extensions, and you're editing content with custom attributes/fields that have been explicitly assigned to this tab. Please consult your organization's documentation for details about any custom fields located here.

Content Types

In Mura CMS, it's important to understand that there are different types of content. For example, sometimes you may want to create a traditional "page" of content, where there's a body area of text and images. Other times, you may want to add a "file" such as a PDF document, image file, or a link to another website. 

One very important distinction here is that each content type has several attributes and features such as the ability to use categories, tags, and control whether or not the item will display or not, or even restrict access to the information to specific group(s). Please take a moment and review each of the basic content types listed below.

Type Description
Page Page content types are the website pages of your site. These are the most commonly used content types containing text, images, and links.
Link Link content types are simply URL links. They can be used to link to another section of your existing website, or to external websites.
File File content types are specifically any kind of file type that the system administrator has allowed Mura CMS to manage. File icons are used to denote most of the common file types such PDF, Word, Excel, Zip, and many others.
Folder Folder content types allow you to aggregate related content into a defined group. Folders are most often used for sections of the site that may contain "news" or "blog" type content. For example, folders typically display the "title" and "summary" fields of each content item that lives directly beneath it, and pagination occurs automatically. Folders are also configurable to display several other fields such as the content release date, categories, tags, how many items to display per page, and more. The folder’s “body” area will appear above the listing of content that lives beneath it.
Calendar Calendar content types allow you to display scheduled content in a traditional calendar format. Content placed directly under a "calendar" is scheduled by its "schedule" and has a number of configurable options such as whether or not the item should repeat, the frequency of when it should display, and more.
Quick Upload Quick Upload is not a content type. Rather, it's a way to upload multiple files, such as images and/or documents, all at once instead of having to upload each item individually. This is very useful when you wish to create a gallery of images, or even a library of documents.
Custom Content Types Custom Content Types may also be created by your website development team in order to accommodate unique data specific to your organizations requirements or needs. For example, maybe your organization hosts a large number of YouTube videos. In that case, a developer might use "class extensions" to create a special content type called "YouTube" which collects the URL to the video, and other important information about that video. Then, using custom code in your theme or via a plugin, the content may be displayed in a special way on the front end of your site.

Admin Content View

There are many things you can do on the back-end administration view of Mura CMS that you cannot do on the front-end public view. Here, we'll explore the "Content" area of the "Admin View" and learn how to find content we might be looking for to edit.

Content Tree View

The Tree View  is the default Content view in Mura CMS. The default view is Site, as per the three-option tab at the top of the page. The two other options (Components and Forms) are described below. From here, you can see all of the content in a hierarchical view, with the Home page being the topmost content item.

We'll discuss managing navigation menus in another section. However, it's important to note that each row in the list of content is listed in the order it will appear in the navigation on the front-end public view of the site. So, all of the top level navigation, or the "Home" page, and it's immediate children will appear in the primary navigation of your site by default.

You have several options for interacting with each row of content listed here. One option is clicking the vertical three dots on the far left of each row to reveal a menu of options.

Action Description
Zoom When a content item has children, selecting "Zoom" will drill into that section of the site. This often makes it easier to manage a specific section, or sub-section of a site without the clutter of viewing all of the siblings of a content item. You can keep track of where you are in context to the "Home" page by using the breadcrumbs found directly above the listing of content items.
Edit Select this option to go to the "Edit Content" screen.
Add Content Select this option to add a child content item.
Copy Select this option to copy the specific content item into memory. When you select this option, you can click the vertical three dots and a "Paste" option will appear so that you can paste the copied item.
Copy All Similar to "Copy" except it copies both the selected item, and all of its children.
Version History Selecting this option will take you to the Version History screen where you can perform actions such as comparing versions, and edit old versions to re-publish them.
Permissions Selecting this option will take you to the Permissions screen for the specified content item so that you can control who has "Editor" and "Author" permissions, or even explicitly deny a group access to content.
Delete Selecting this option will generate an alert dialog to confirm whether or not you wish to delete the selected content item and all content nested beneath it.

Another option are the icons on the far right of each row.

Option Description
Objects Objects can inherit or not inherit cascading, and they can also start a new cascade.
Display The content is either displayed or hidden or controlled by a schedule; if hidden it can only be edited via the back-end administration area unless you know the URL to the page in order to edit via the front-end.
Template The content can inherit the parent template, or use another template, and use an alternate child template for its children.
Nav This option toggles whether or not a content item will appear in navigation generated by Mura. If navigation is turned off, it will not appear within any generated front-end navigation.  
Updated The field indicates the date when the content was last changed.

Components

Components can be accessed under the Tree View tab within the "Content" section of the Mura CMS back-end administration area. From here, you can see all of the existing components as well as create and maintain components. For more information about Mura Components, visit the Components section.

Forms

The Forms button is one of the options displayed under the "Tree View" tab within the "Content" section of the Mura CMS back-end administration area. From here, you can see all of the existing forms as well as create and maintain forms. For more information about Mura Forms, vist the Forms section.

Content List View

By default, the Content "List View" displays all of the content as a listing of search results, sorted by the date each item was last updated. 

From this view, you can apply a number of different filters to narrow your search as desired. For example, you can easily toggle between all site content, drafts you've been working on, any submissions or approvals that have been assigned to you, and more by clicking the area next to "Showing:" as illustrated below.

You can also apply several other filters. For example, clicking on "Advanced Filters" opens up another set of form fields that you can use to enter keywords, narrow by content type, tags, and categories. Simply click the "Filter" button when finished, and Mura will return any results that match the filters you've applied.

Custom

If you have enabled Mura ORM Scaffolding in the Mura Site Settings section, you will also see a Custom tab in the Content section of the Mura Administrator. For more information on this feature, please review the  Mura ORM Scaffolder & Assembler documentation.

Content Editor

The format of the Editing window in the latest version of Mura has been updated to simply the process and maximize the space dedicated to the most-used portion of the content manager, the content editor itself (CKEditor). All of the tools and fields that were formerly hidden behind separate tabs (and that would take you away from the editor) are now placed to the side of the editor so that all readily accessible.

The tab you are mostly likely to edit is the Basic tab

File Manager

Within the content editor and elsewhere, Mura provides a File Manager for managing both images and files. We call these type of files "loose" assets in that they are not formally attached to content, such as with Associated Images or images and files you have uploaded through the Content Manager. Instead, these are the sorts of files and images included in inline content, such as when you click the Image icon in the content editor to insert an image into your content.

To see an example of the File Manager, click on the Add Image icon in the Content Manager's editor, then Browse Server.

Adding Files

At the top of this window you will see a "drop target" where you can drag one or more images and/or files from your local computer and "drop" them onto this space. These will then be uploaded one at a time and placed in the current folder. Alternatively, you can click on this region and a familiar "select files" window will open on your computer.

Note: Keep track of your file sizes! Photos, especially those taken with cameras or your phone, can be very (VERY) large. It is best to upload photos only once you have reduced the size and/or image depth (aka 72dpi resolution) via a program like Photoshop or using an online service.

File Toolbar

Below the upload area is a toolbar where you can perform a few actions. First, you can switch between Grid View and List View, the former being a thumbnail grid of the files (and image thumbnails where appropriate), the latter being a list of the files with some associated information.

You can also add new folders by clicking on the Folder icon, and then naming the folder. As these folders are used when generating the web link to the image, ideally these folder names should not contain spaces.

Finally, there is a "filter" box where you can add all or part of a filename to quickly find the file you are looking for.

Navigating Your Files

The main area of the File Manager is the file browsing area. As per above, these can be listed either as a Grid or List. Both provide the same information and functionality, while the Grid view will additionally provide thumbnail versions of image files.

Standard File Menu

All files have a standard action menu, which can be displayed by clicking the    vertical-dot icon.

Button Functionality
Edit (File Only) Opens the file for editing.
View (Image Only) Opens the image in the Gallery Viewer.
Move Move the file to a different folder.
Duplicate Make a duplicate of the file.
Copy URL Copy's the file's url to your clipboard.
Rename Rename the file.
Download Download the file.
Delete Delete the file.

Folders

Folders and navigation always appear as the first items listed. The first item in the list may be a box with a left-pointing arrow in it. This means you are currently looking at a sub-folder in the current folder area. You can navigate to higher levels either by a) clicking on this left-facing arrow, or b) using the breadcrumb list at the top of the File Manager to navigate directly to any higher-level folder.

Folders appear as folder icons with the folder name displayed. To navigated into this folder, click on the icon.

Images

Images and files appear after the above navigation items. Images will include a thumbnail of the image, along with the file size (if available) as well as the date it was last modified.

If you click on the thumbnail itself, a larger-scale version of the image will appear within an image gallery. The gallery itself has its own navigation (appearing as left-right arrows to the left and right of the image). Below the larger-scale image is a toolbar that provides various functionality.

Button Functionality
Select If this button appears, it is in the context of "selecting" the image for whatever action you are undertaking. For instance, in the web editor, Select will select the image for placement into the content.
Edit Image This changes the view from "Browse" to "Edit Image" (see below)
Rename This will present a box where you can rename the image.
Download This will download the image to your device.
Delete

This will permanently delete the image.

Note: deleted images are not placed into the Trash.

Close Closes the gallery view.

Editing Images

If you have chosen Edit Image, then a new image will appear, and the view will alter.

When you enter this mode (by clicking Edit Image, as described above), a Grid Box will appear over the image, which can be moved and resized. This grid box will allow you to crop the image to a new dimension. Below the Grid Box is a menu, and to the right are a series of constraints that can be applied to the box. The first are a series of fixed dimensions (i.e. 4:3) that will resize the box to commonly found dimensions, as well as Fixed (which fixes the dimensions of the box so that the aspect ratio of the existing image is maintained) and Free (which allows freeform resizing of the box). You can move this box by clicking and dragging the box around the image, and resize the box by clicking and dragging the corners. Note that, for very large images, you can also click and drag the image around as well.

There are also a variety of actions that can be applied:

Button Functionality
Rotate Right   On the sub-menu below the image, the right-rotating or clockwise arrow will rotate the image 90 degrees to the right.
Rotate Left   On the sub-menu below the image, the left-rotating or counter-clockwise arrow will rotate the image 90 degrees to the left.
Crop   The crop option, which appear just to the right of the Grid Box-constraining settings on the mini-menu, will crop the image so that it fits within the current Grid Box.
Resize On the main menu you will see a Resize option. This will open a separate menu where you can enter the width and/or height of the new image, as well as fix the Aspect Ratio (which will disable the corresponding width/height adjustment).
Confirm This will immediately save and execute the alterations you have made, and the image will be saved and reloaded.
Cancel The window will be closed, and any changes you made will be discarded.

Files

Files appear as default icons along with the file size (where available) and date last modified. Clicking on the icon or menu will open the standard file menu (see above).

Content Formatting

When editing the "Content" or "Summary" fields in Mura CMS, you're actually using a web text editor. The editor comes with a number of very powerful features. First of all, if you click the question mark found on the far right of the last row of tools, a dialog window will appear informing you that the web text editor was created by CKEditor. While we'll cover some basics, you may find the CKEditor User's Guide a much more thorough resource.

The Toolbar

The first thing you'll notice when editing content with the web text editor is the toolbar that appears at the top of the editor window. A similar toolbar appears when you using "inline edit" mode on the front-end public view of your site as well. It contains menu buttons that give you access to various functions of the editor. All buttons are grouped according to their function and include both simple operations (like basic text styling or formatting) and more advanced features (like inserting media via a dialog window).

The CKEditor toolbar buttons are illustrated with meaningful icons. If, however, you are not sure what functions they perform, hover the mouse cursor over the buttons to see a tooltip with the name of the function.

Using the Toolbar

In order to perform an operation assigned to a button, click the button once. In most cases it will either immediately perform some predefined action or open a dialog window with further configuration options for a feature.

Remember that the toolbar can also be used with your keyboard. To enter the toolbar, use the Alt+F10 keyboard shortcut. To move to the next or previous button group, use the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, respectively. Within a button group, use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to move between buttons of this group. To activate a selected toolbar button, press Enter or Space.

Some of the buttons serve as placeholders giving you access to further options placed in a drop-down list. They are easily recognizable thanks to a small icon on their right. Clicking the name or the arrow icon of such button expands the list and lets you choose one of its options via the left mouse button. To select a drop-down list option you can also use the Tab or the Down Arrow key and then accept your choice by pressing Enter or Space on your keyboard. To hide the list, use the Esc key or click anywhere in the browser window.

Uploading Images and Files

Mura CMS has its own integrated File Manager for managing your site assets such as images and files. To upload new files and/or images or to access existing ones, click on the CKEditor Toolbar "Image" icon and select Browse Server. Here you can drag/drop new files from your local computer, or use filters to navigate through the existing files to find the one you are looking for.

Summary

In this section, we reviewed Mura's content types and got to know the basics of creating/managing content.

In the next section, we'll look at structuring and organizing your content using built-in tools such as navigation menus, categories, tags, and more.

Categories and Tags

Mura CMS allows you to "categorize" and/or "tag" content in order to classify content so that users are able to search and/or filter content that's relevant to their own interests. Please refer to the sections below for details on the differences between the two options.

Categories

Mura CMS enables you to create a hierarchy of categories, and then assign content items to one or more of those categories. By categorizing content, you can create unique indexes, or collections, of content items that you can use throughout various sections of your site to highlight content. In addition, Mura CMS offers a built-in category filter as a display object that site visitors can use to drill down to content that might be of interest to them.

Creating Categories

To create categories, you need to go to the Categories section of the back-end administrator and follow the instructions below.

  1. From the Categories section, select "Add Category"
  2. You should now see the "Add Content Category" screen
    1. Name: This will be the name of the category
    2. URL Title: Leave this blank to have Mura automatically generate your category a URL title based on the name you chose. Or, feel free to enter your own unique URL title.
    3. Parent Category: The select menu will display all existing categories. If you prefer the category be assigned as a subcategory, simply select the desired parent category. Otherwise, select "Primary."
    4. Is this an interest group?: Select "Yes" to allow Site Members to choose it when completing/editing their profile.
    5. Allow Content Assignments?: If "Yes" then content can be assigned. If "No," it will simply show as a heading on the Categorization tab under "Available Categories. This is useful when you want to group some categories together, but not necessarily allow content to be categorized as such. For example, you might have a category called "News Categories" that contains several subcategories, and you wouldn't really want someone to assign content to this specific category.
    6. Allow Content Features?: If "Yes" the content can be featured under the specified category.
    7. Active?: If "Yes" then the category will appear as an option for content managers to assign content to, otherwise it will be hidden.
    8. Restrict ability to assign content to this category?: If utilized, only the group(s) selected will be allowed to assign content to this specific category.
    9. Notes: Enter any notes pertinent to the category, if desired. It's not used for any display purposes.
  3. Complete the fields as desired, then click "Add" to create your desired category.

Categorizing Content

Once you've created one or more categories, you can categorize your content by following the steps below.

  1. Select a content item to edit.
  2. Select the "Categories" tab.
  3. Select one or more options from the list of available categories.
  4. Select your desired publishing option.
  5. Repeat these steps for any other content items you wish to categorize.
  6. Congratulations! You've successfully categorized content.

Feature Categorized Content

Sometimes, you'll want to feature one or more content items within one or more categories. Under the "Feature" column, click the icon to open the Feature quick edit popup.

  1. Select "No" and the content item will not be featured within the specified category.
  2. Select "Yes" and the content item will be included in a content collection/local index that is looking for "featured" content within that category.
  3. Selecting "Scheduled Feature" is the same as "Yes," except the content item will only be featured during the specified period of time.

 

Category Summary Display Object

The Category Summary display object is a listing of categories used throughout the site, where each category listed contains a count of categorized content items and is hyperlinked to a search results page to display content items associated with the selected category.

Displaying a Category Summary

Category Summary display objects are typically applied to Mura Folder content types so that the display object will also appear on child content items, such as a "News" or "Blog section of a site. To display a Category Summary, follow the steps below.

  1. From the front-end public view of your site, select a content item to edit such as the "News" section, and from the front-end toolbar, hover over the pencil icon and select Inline Edit.
  2. The inline edit panel should appear on the right-hand portion of the browser.
  3. Select the Navigation display object, and then drag it to your desired area, such as the right-hand column. As you drag the display object, drop zone target areas will highlight with either a red dotted box or red dotted line.
  4. When you release the mouse button, the display object should appear on your screen, and the inline edit panel should display a form with configuration options.
  5. Select "Category Summary" from the Select Navigation menu.
  6. When you're done making edits, select your desired publishing option to save your changes.

Tags

Mura CMS allows you to add free-form "tags" to content. A "tag" is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information. Tags are usually single words. This kind of metadata helps describe the item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. If a tagged content item is child of a Mura Folder, each tag may display, along with other summary information, and would be hyperlinked to other content items associated with that tag.

Tagging Content

Follow the steps below to add/edit content tags.

  1. Select a content item to edit. If you're editing content from the front-end public view, use "Full Edit" mode.
  2. Select the "Tags" tab.
  3. If the content item you've selected has already been tagged, they will appear below the text box.
  4. If you want to delete/remove one of the existing tags, simply click the circle with an "x" in the middle of it just to the right of the existing tag.
  5. If you want to add/create a tag, type the word into the text box, and hit "Enter" or "Return" on your keyboard.
  6. As you type, Mura will display a list of tags that have already been used before that match the letters you're typing. So, for example, if you type a "k" into the text box, any tags that contain a "k" in it will appear below. Also, if you click the down arrow in the empty text box, a full listing of tags that have already been used will appear.
  7. If your desired tag appears in the list, simply click on it, and it will be added.
  8. When you're finished tagging your content, select your desired publishing option to save the content.
  9. Depending on how your layout templates were created, your tags may appear with your content. Visit the Tag Cloud Display Object section for more information.

Tag Groups

Tag Groups offer a way to apply tags to individual sections, such as "News Tags" or "Blog Tags." This will also allow for the ability to display a specific grouping of tags that only apply to a specific region of a site, for example.

Creating Tag Groups

To create tag groups, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to the back-end administration area
  2. Select Site Settings > Edit Settings
  3. On the Basic tab, scroll down to locate the Custom Tag Groups form field
  4. Enter your desired tag group names, separated by a carat (^) in between each group name
  5. Click Save Settings
  6. That's it!

Using Tag Groups

To use tag groups, follow the steps from Tagging Content to apply tags to content items, using the desired specific tag group(s). For example, in the illustration below, the tags "california" and "wine" have been applied to the "News Tags" tag group.

When finished applying your tags, select your desired publishing option to save your content.

Tag Cloud Display Object

The Tag Cloud display object is a visual representation of text data, used to depict keyword metadata (tags). Tags are usually single words, and font size is used to indicate how frequently each tag has been used. Each tag is hyperlinked to a search results page containing a listing of associated content items.

Displaying a Tag Cloud

As a display object, Tag Clouds can be applied to most any area of a site or layout. Typically, Tag Clouds are used on Mura Folder content types so that the display object will continue to appear on child content items, such as a "News" or "Blog" section of a site. To display a Tag Cloud, follow the steps below.

  1. From the front-end public view of your site, select a content item to edit such as the "News" section, and from the front-end toolbar, hover over the pencil icon and select Inline Edit.
  2. The inline edit panel should appear on the right-hand portion of the browser.
  3. Select the Navigation display object, and then drag it to your desired area, such as the right-hand column. As you drag the display object, drop zone target areas will highlight with either a red dotted box or red dotted line.
  4. When you release the mouse button, the display object should appear on your screen, and the inline edit panel should display a form with configuration options.
  5. Select "Tag Cloud" from the Select Navigation menu, and then select your desired tag group from the Select Tag Group menu. Once you do, the display object will dynamically update to reflect your configured options.
  6. When you're done making edits, select your desired publishing option to save your changes.

Layout Manager

Layout Manager Introduction

The Layout Manager is a front-end design and development tool that removes the need for hard-coded templates and allows content developers full control over the composition and content of their website. This is accomplished by dragging Modules onto the page, either as layout objects or containers for other Modules, or as content elements themselves. These elements can be as basic as Container, which as the name suggests is merely a holder for other types of Modules, layout Modules like Horizontal Rule or Page Header, or dynamic Modules like Navigation or Collection.

Layout Manager also enables inline editing, a content-editing mode in which content can be edited directly on the page itself, as opposed to the back-end content editor.

What We Will Cover

Throughout this section we will examine Layout Manager in detail, looking at the inline editing component as well as Modules in particular. In the Modules section, we will look at the various settings that make up a Module, including Heading and Style, as well as the Settings which are configuration settings unique to each Module.

If you wish to learn about how to create custom Modules yourself, you should read the Modules section in the Custom Development section of the documentation.

Layout Manager Modules

Modules can be used to either enhance your layout or add functionality to your site. By default, Mura CMS includes a number of helpful Modules so you can quickly and easily add elements such as Collections, Components, Forms, and navigational aids. Developers may also create custom display objects, unique to your organization's needs such as a stock ticker, or even a full-blown application to be embedded within a single page or an entire section of your site.

Accessing Layout Modules

To access Modules, from the front-end public view of your site, when you hover over the pencil icon located on the front-end toolbar, and select "Edit Layout" the inline edit panel appears on the right-hand portion of the browser. The Module panel appearing on the right-hand side of the page contains a list of available display objects which can be applied to your layout.

Inheritance Rules

Inheritance is the concept of Modulesplaced on a page "flowing" downward so they appear on the page(s) below. Think of a flow chart where if you added a red dot to a node, then that dot could automatically appear in all the nodes below it. There are rules to this, inheritance, of course, as described below.

Modules obey the Inheritance Rules applied to each content item. To edit Inheritance Rules, when editing a content item, select the Layout tab.

The options for Inheritance Rules are outlined below:

Type Description
Inherit Cascade This is the default setting for new content items and "inherits" any Module applied to the closest parent content item with a setting of "Start New Cascade."
Start New Cascade This setting prevents any Module applied to parent content items from displaying in the layout. Unless a child content item explicitly declares "Start New Cascade" or "Do Not Inherit Cascade," it will display any Module assigned to this specific content item. This setting is most often used on top-level sections of a site, so that display objects such as navigation will automatically appear in the same place throughout an entire section of the site.
Do Not Inherit Cascade This is a very unique setting which prevents any Module from appearing on the specified page, while allowing parental Module to essentially flow through to its children.

Heading

When you place a Module on the stage, the Modules menu on the right-hand side of the page will change to the display the Module-specific settings, including the Heading. By clicking on the Heading option, you will see a number of settings available.

Setting Description
Text The text that will appear in the Heading. The heading tag will not render if this is empty.
Heading Tag The heading type that will be used to render the Heading text.

Style

The Module Style settings allow you to configure the page layout and styling options for the Module. This is generally divided into four sections. Not that only the settings that are relevant to the Module type will appear.

The Style settings are applied as CSS styles to the regions selected.

Style Region

It is also important to note that Style settings are divided by module and content region within each Module. For instance, the Form Module Style settings are separated by the Module itself, and by Content. You can select these regions by selecting the appropriate region at the top of the Style menu. Most Modules will have at minimum a Module region and a Content region, but again this varies by Module type.

Module

The "module" region is the outermost element of the Module itself, and will obviously contain everything that resides within the module. This is also the "layout" element in respect to the surrounding content and its parent element.

Layout

Setting Description
Flex Align Self

This determines how the Module will layout in various mobile formats.

  • flex-start: ...
  • flex-end: ...
  • center: ...
  • space-between: ...
  • space-around: ...
Width This is a 12-cell fixed-width tool that lets you define the percentage (%) width, in increments of 1/12th,  the Module will appear in the page (or more specifically, the parent element it is contained within). For instance, if you select 6 of the 12 boxes, then the Module will appear at 50% the width of its parent container. The default is 12 (100% width).
Expand Width ...
Constrain Content ...
Minimum Height The minimum height of the Module. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).
Margin The margin surrounding the Module, either for all sides equally or custom per top/bottom/left/right. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).
Padding The padding within the Module container, either for all sides equally or custom per top/bottom/left/right. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).

Theme

Setting Description
Text Color The color of the text within the Module.

Background

Setting Description
Background Color The color of the Module's background.
Background Image The image URL of an assigned background image for the Module

Custom

Setting Description
Z-Index The Z-index depth of the Module
CSS Class The list of classes you wish assigned to the Module. Enter them as you would within the object's "class" attribute, i.e. space separated.
Custom CSS Styles Any custom styles you with applied to the module.  Enter them as you would within the object's "style" attribute, i.e. semi-colon separated.
Apply Custom Styles You can view in real-time the style changes you have made by clicking on Apply Custom Styles

Content

These settings apply to the "content" region within the Module.

Layout

Setting Description
Text Alignment The alignment of the content text.
  • -- (none)
  • Left
  • Right
  • Center
  • Justify
Width The width of the content region within the Module.
Minimum Height The minimum height of the content region within the Module. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).
Margin The margin surrounding the content region within the Module, either for all sides equally or custom per top/bottom/left/right. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).
Padding The padding of the content region within the Module, either for all sides equally or custom per top/bottom/left/right. You can define this in all the standard CSS methods (i.e. rem or percentage).
   

Text Color

Setting Description
Select Color The color of the text within the content region of the Module.

Background

Setting Description
Background Color The color of the Module content region's background.
Background Image The image URL of an assigned background image for the Module's content region.

Custom

Setting Description
Z-Index The Z-index depth of the Module's content region.
CSS Class The list of classes you wish assigned to the Module's content region. Enter them as you would within the object's "class" attribute, i.e. space separated.
Custom CSS Styles Any custom styles you with applied to the Module's content region. Enter them as you would within the object's "style" attribute, i.e. semi-colon separated.

 

Module Types

Mura ships with a number of predefined Modules, which will appear in the right-hand Modules menu when you enter the Layout Manager. If your organization has created any custom Modules, they will be listed in this menu as well.

Container

A Container Module allows you to add a custom container (in reality an HTML <div>)  to a page or portion of your site to contain additional Modules. It is useful as a layout tool, or to separate one or more Modules from the parent container. It is possible to place any number of Container Modules within other Container Modules, and in conjunction with the Style settings, allows you to create very sophisticated layouts.

Other than the Heading and Style options, Container Modules have no other settings.

Text

Text Modules, from static text to inserting Components, and page attributes (including custom Class Extensions) are the easiest way to insert sidebar and similar text into a page. They are inline-editable as well, when you are in Edit Content mode.

There are three separate options available when inserting a Text Module:

Setting Description
Text

For inserting static text.

  • Editor: click on Edit to edit the text you want inserted.
Component

For inserting Components.

  • Select Component:  select an existing Component.
  • Create New: click on Create New to create a new Component.
Attribute

For inserting page attributes, such as title or summary, or value of a  Class Extension.

  • Select Attribute: insert Title, Navigation Title, Summary or Credits, or any Class Extension assigned to the page.

Image

The Image Module allows you to insert an image, either from a URL or selected from your local images via the File Manager.  

Setting Description
Image Src The URL to the image. You can enter the URL manually, or click on Select Image to select an image via the File Manager.
Alt Text Meta information for the image, to add accessibility and SEO to the image.
Caption Text Text that will appear alongside the image. Click on Edit Caption to edit.

Form

You can easily add a Mura Form to a page or section of your site. To learn more about Mura Forms, visit the Forms section.

Type Description
Select Form Choose your  desired "Form" from the available menu options. You can also click on Create New to create a new Form.

Call to Action (CTA)

The Call to Action Module (CTA) allows you to create a sophisticated "request more information" or "contact us" interaction on your website, and comprises both a component (as the precursor content) and a form (so the user can fulfill the request). You can apply a great deal of configuration to these interactions, including number of visits, time before appearing and scroll depth.

The CTA is divided into three sections.

What?

This section forms the content portion of your CTA.

Setting Description
Select Component The Component that will comprise the text content of the CTA. You can select, edit or create a new Component.
Select Form The Form that will allow the user to fulfill the CTA. You can select, edit or create a new Form.

When?

This section configures the trigger conditions for your CTA to display.

Setting Description
Visits before CTA appears Determines how many times should the visitor view this page before the CTA is shown for the first time. Default is zero (0), which means the CTA will appear at the first visit.
CTA appears for X visits Sets the maximum number times the CTA is shown to a repeat visitor to the page. Default is zero (0) times, which is unlimited (the CTA will always appear).
Display CTA after X seconds The delay between the page being loaded and the CTA displaying. Default is zero (0) seconds.
Scroll depth before CTA appears Determines if the CTA is triggered by scrolling down the page, such as reading to the end of an article. If set to greater than zero (0) percent, the CTA will trigger when that percent of the page height is reached.
CTA will restart after If set greater than zero (0), the CTA visit counter be reset after this interval. Options are Session, Day, Week or Month.
   

How?

This section configures the appearance of  the CTA.

Setting Description
Type

How the CTA will appear on the page.

    • Modal: a centered box which appears to float above the page. 
    • Bar: a full-width bar at the bottom of the page, like a "sticky footer" with animation.
    • Drawer: a partial-width box near one corner of the page (select vertical and horizontal alignment along with width for this format).
    • Inline: this option renders the CTA as part of the page layout, as opposed to the "overlay" rendering in the other formats.
Horizontal Alignment (X) The horizontal alignment of the CTA on the screen. Options are Left, Right.
Vertical Alignment (Y) The vertical alignment of the CTA on the screen. Options are Top, Bottom.
Animation Speed The animation speed of the CTA's appearance on the screen.
Width Width options of Small, Medium or Large to match CTA dialogs to their content.
Custom CSS Classes Enter any custom CSS class values here. These will be applied to the CTA container, and can be used to target the CTA and its contents for custom styling.

Collection

Collections are essentially indexes of content based on pre-defined search criteria or filters. (Visit the Collections section to learn how to create and manage Mura Collections.) The "Collection" display object enables you to quickly and easily place these "indexes of content" throughout your site and layouts so visitors to your site may find additional information they may find interesting or useful to them.

Type Description
Source

You will need to select a "Content Source" from one of the options listed below:

  • Local Index: selecting the "Local Index" option will reveal the "Select Local Index" menu. Simply select your desired Local Index from the list, or click the "Create New" button to create a brand new Local Index
  • Remote Feed: selecting the "Remote Feed" option will reveal the "Select Remote Feed" menu. Simply select your desired Remote Feed, or click the "Create New" button to create a brand new Remote Feed. You can also choose whether or not you wish to "Display Summaries on Content Object?"
  • Related Content: selecting the "Related Content" option will reveal the "Select Related Content Set" menu. You can choose any defined Related Content Sets, or select "Custom" and then click the "Edit" button to build a custom Related Content Set specifically for this display.
Layout

The layouts listed below are the predefined options which ship with Mura CMS. Your options may vary if a developer has created additional options for your specific site.

  • Default: see "List" below
  • Custom: displays content items based on a "custom" layout option created by a developer. This is just an example layout that ships with Mura CMS for developers to use as a starting point.
  • Grid: displays content items as a "grid." You can also select the "Grid Style" by choosing anywhere from 1 Column through 9 Column options.
  • List: displays content items as a "list"
List Image Size You can select from the available options of small, medium, large, custom, or any other pre-defined image sizes to control the size of the image to be displayed in the listing of content, assuming "Image" is selected as one of the fields to display
Selected Fields

This section of the form controls which elements of the content item will display in the listing. Click the Edit button to launch the Select Fields dialog window. Here, you can add and/or remove and rearrange fields you wish (or don't wish) to display in the listing. When finished making your selections, click Update to save your options. The selected fields will now appear on the form. Click and drag any of the fields in the list to reorder them as you wish.

View Images as Gallery
  • True:  When a user clicks an image, a "Large" version of the image will open in a modal window.
  • False: When a user clicks an image, it will be treated like a regular link and the user will be taken to the content item's URL.
View All Link You can enter a custom URL for a user to be directed to when they click the "View All" link.
View All Label If  you don't like the standard "View All" label for the "View All" link, you can enter your own here.
Max Items This controls the maximum number of items to display.
Items Per Page This controls the number of items to display before pagination kicks in.

Embed

An Embed Module allows you to enter custom "embed" code into a page or section of your site. For example, maybe you want to "embed" a video from a third-party hosting service such as YouTube. Sites like these often allow you to copy "embed" code specifically for this purpose. However, videos aren't the only type of content you might want to "embed" into your site, as the options for embedding content from third-party sites is endless.

Type Description
Enter Embed Code Place the "embed" code of the object such as a video and paste it into this field.

Horizontal Rule

The Horizontal Rule Module is simply a static content divider that can be applied to a page. Only Style settings are available.

Navigation

The Navigation Module offers a variety of navigation options.

Note on terminology: The navigation types below will refer to parent, children and siblings. Parent is the content item immediately above the current page. Children are the pages below (either immediately or throughout the entire depth) the current page. Siblings are all the pages immediately below the current page's parent (i.e. at the same depth as the current page). Depth is a reference to the number of levels below the top-level or "home" page.

Pagination: this refers both to the number of pages displayed, and the number of items displayed on each page. Navigation is often determined by these settings, which can be found in Site Settings.

Navigation Type Description
Folder Navigation Typically placed on a Folder. This will display all the children of the current page.
Multi-Level Navigation ...
Peer Navigation ...
Sequential Navigation ...
Standard Navigation ...
Sub Navigation ...
Archive Navigation ...
Category Summary ...
Calendar Navigation Navigation in the form of a Calendar of children.
Tag Cloud A Tag or "Word" Cloud of children.

Page Header

The Page Header Module is ... (update summary too please!!!)

System

There are a variety of baked-in "System" display objects in Mura CMS including: Comment Form, Content Rater, Site Map, User Favorites, and User Tools.

Follow the steps below to apply a System display object to a page or section of your site.

Type Description
Comment Form

The "Comment Form" display object allows end users to add comments to content items within your site. This is especially useful for sections of your site such as "News" or "Blog" areas. If you apply Comment Form to a Folder content type, the form will not appear on the Folder itself, and will only appear on the child content items within that section of the site.

Note: If you don't see the "Comment Form" display object listed as an option, an administrator will have to review the Comments Permissions section

Content Rater

A "Content Rater" allows end users to "rate" the content on a scale of five stars. Mura CMS tallies all ratings, and will display the "Average Rating" and total votes cast for the content item.

Note: Content Raters are typically applied to a "Folder" content type so that the "rater" itself will appear on all of the children of the Folder. It will NOT display on the Folder itself, since these content types are typically used as "News" or "Blog" landing pages, and the landing pages (or Folders) aren't typically "rated" by users. This can be somewhat confusing because the Content Rater is "invisible" on the Folder when applied in this manner, yet "visible" on its children.

Site Map

Mura CMS can display an auto-generated listing of content items within your site in two different formats: Default and Tree View.

  • Default
    The "Default" display format of the Site Map is essentially an unordered list, where child content is indented within the list.
  • Tree View
    The "Tree View" display format of the Site Map attempts to show the content items in a hierarchical structured view.
User Favorites The "User Favorites" display object gives logged in users the ability to add content items to a list of their favorite pages so they can quickly and easily access these pages or areas of the site. Users also have an easy link to print the page they're currently viewing.

If a user is not logged in, they will be prompted to log in to use the display object.
User Tools The "User Tools" display object is nearly identical to the "User Favorites" display object, except it also includes links to "Edit Profile" and "Logout" along with a welcome message.

 

Layout Templates

With Mura, you can alter the layout template of a content item very easily, and even set the default layout of the children of a particular section of your site.

When it comes to selecting the default layout template for the children, think of this as laying out an outfit for a child to wear. The child could go ahead and wear it, or ignore your suggestion and go pick something else for themselves to wear.

Setting Layout Templates

There are a handful of ways to set and/or change layout templates. The options are listed below.

Via Back-End Content Tree View

From the back-end administration area of Mura, go to the "Content Tree View" area. Under the "Template" column, you can see whether or not a content item has its layout explicitly set or is inheriting the layout according to the parent.

If the icon looks like a layout template, then the layout template has been explicitly set for that content item. If the icon looks like a bullet, then it will honor whatever the parent has set as the "Alternate Child Template." If the Alternate Child Template is set to "none," then it will inherit from the "Layout Template" setting.

To change the layout template, or view the layout template settings, simply click the icon in the corresponding row of the content item you wish to edit, and a balloon edit window should appear.

Both the "Layout Template" and "Alternate Child Template" options will list all of the available layout options for your particular theme. When you've selected your desired settings, click "Submit" to save the new settings.

Via Edit Content Item

You can also edit the layout template settings by selecting your desired content item, then clicking the "Layout" tab. There, you should see the select menu options for both "Layout Template" and "Alternate Child Template." Make your desired changes, then "Publish" to save the new settings.

Default Layout Templates

The default theme that ships with Mura includes a handful of basic layout templates. However, the developers of your theme may have created their own, unique layout templates for use on the site you will actually be working on. So, template options listed below may be different than the options you see on your own site.

Template Description
blank.cfm This layout template will only output the page title and content.
default.cfm This simply uses the two_column_SL.cfm layout template
home.cfm This layout template is most often used specifically for the Home page
one_column.cfm This layout template includes a Header area with primary navigation, a main body/content region, and a footer area
three_column.cfm This layout template includes a Header area with primary navigation, a "left" column region, a "right" column region, a main body/content region, and a footer area
two_column_SL.cfm The "SL" means "Sidebar Left." This layout template includes a Header area with primary navigation, a "left" column region, a main body/content region, and a footer area
two_column_SR.cfm The "SR" means "Sidebar Right." This layout template includes a Header area with primary navigation, a "right" column region, a main body/content region, and a footer area

Navigation Menus

Mura CMS auto-generates hierarchical navigational elements based on the way content is structured, and sorted in the back-end administration area's Content Tree View.

For example, content items located immediately below the "Home" page may have a link auto-generated to it in the "Primary Navigation" area of the public-facing site. Only content items with "Nav (Display in Navigation)" set to "Yes" and "Display" set to "Yes" or if the current date falls within the schedule set under "Per Schedule" will be displayed to end users.

In the above photo, you'll notice a link to "Site Map" and some of the other content items listed in the prior image don't appear in the primary navigation because the content items have either the "Nav" or "Display" options set to "No." This concept applies anywhere navigational elements are generated by Mura CMS.

In this section, you'll learn how to add navigational elements such as sub-navigation, to a specific region on the page, reorganize content items, as well as how to edit the navigation and menu items.

Adding Navigation to Content

Mura CMS includes several different types of navigational aids which can be applied to your site. The general concepts on applying navigational elements to your layout are covered under the Navigation section of Modules section.

Reorganizing Content Items

This section covers the sorting and ordering options for navigational elements, including how to manually re-order content items within the back-end administration area.

Sorting Content Items

As mentioned in the Managing Navigation Menus section, Mura CMS auto-generates hierarchical navigation based on the way content is structured, and sorted in the back-end administration area's Content Tree View

For example, content items located immediately below the "Home" page may have a link auto-generated to it in the "Primary Navigation" area of the public-facing site. Only content items with "Nav (Display in Navigation)" set to "Yes" and "Display" set to "Yes" or if the current date falls within the schedule set under "Per Schedule" will be displayed to end users.

In the above photo, you'll notice a link to "Site Map" and some of the other content items listed in the prior image don't appear in the primary navigation because the content items have either the "Nav" or "Display" options set to "No." This concept applies anywhere navigational elements are generated by Mura CMS.

Modify View

From the Content Tree View, just above, and to the right of the content listing area, you should see a "Modify View" button.

Clicking this button will reveal a number options which vary based on which section of the site you're currently "zoomed" in to. For example, if you're completely zoomed out to the "Home" view, clicking the "Modify View" button will only reveal an option to change the number of rows display.

Note: For larger sites, Administrators may change the default number of rows to display (from 20) by going to Site Settings > Edit Site, and updating the "Default Rows (in Site Manager)" field. Content managers will have to log out, and log back in for the new setting to take effect.

The only way to sort "top level" content items, located directly beneath the "Home" content item, is manually using the Drag and Drop method. To learn how to manually sort content items, please visit the Manually Sorting Content with Drag & Drop section.

Once "zoomed" into a specific section of the site, by clicking the three-dot menu icon and selecting "Zoom," "Sort Navigation" options will appear on the Modify View menu.

Sort Navigation Options

Listed below are the various options for sorting content items located below the "top level" content items. Please note these sorting options only apply to the direct children of the section you are applying the sort options to. For example, if you sort by "Menu Title" in the "About Us" section, and you create a new section beneath that which contains its own child content, the new section will default to sorting "Manually" and have its own sorting options and capabilities.

Field Description
Manual Sort the content items manually. This is the default setting. See Manually Sorting Content with Drag & Drop for more information on sorting content manually.
Official Release Date Sort the content items by the Official Release Date field, located the content item's Publishing tab.
Last Updated Sort by the date the content items were last updated.
Created Sort by the date content items were created
Menu Title Sort content items by their Navigation Title, as found on the "Basic" tab, and selecting "Show Additional Titles."
Long Title Sort content items by their Title field, as found on the "Basic" tab.
Rating Sort content items by the "Content Rating" the content item has received from end users. To have higher rated content appear first, select "Descending" for the Sort Order.
Comments Sort content items by the number of comments the content item has received from end users.
Extended Attributes If your site has any custom class extensions, their extended attributes may also appear as potential sort options

Once you have selected the sort criteria, you may choose to display the content items in either "Ascending", or "Descending" order.

Drag and Drop Manual Sorting

The default Sort Navigation option for content items in Mura CMS is "Manual." In fact, top-level content, or content located immediately below the "Home" page, can only be sorted manually. Before attempting to sort content items manually, be sure the Sort Navigation is set to "Manual."

Follow the steps below to manually sort content items.

  1. First, you must use the Content Tree View to sort content items manually.
  2. Next, select the content item you wish to move by using a click, drag, and drop method. We recommend clicking between the three-dot menu and the content item title, then dragging it up or down, then releasing the mouse click when the item has reached its intended target area.
  3. It's important to understand that to manually reorder "children" of a specific section, you must first "zoom" into that specific section. In the prior example above, you'll notice that moving the "About" content item selects all of its children as well, and moves along with it. The same would occur if you attempt to select a child of the About section while zoomed out to the "Home" top-level view.
  4. Once you've finished manually re-ordering the content items, you must select the "Save Order" button from the notice that appears above the content listing to save the new sort order.
  5. The new sort order should now be reflected in your navigation menus on the front-end public-facing site.

Selecting New Parent

When you wish to move a content item to a new section of the site, you can quickly, and easily select a new "parent" for the content item. Follow the steps below to change a content item's parent, and move it to a completely different section of the site.

  1. Select a content item to edit. Note, if you're editing from the front-end public-facing view, be sure to select "Full Edit" option.
  2. Open the Basic tab on the Edit Content screen's right-side menu.
  3. Click the Select New Parent button to reveal a search box and Search button.
  4. Enter text into the search box and click the Search button to obtain a listing of content options. The first option in the list with the radio button selected is the current content parent. Simply select your newly desired option, and select your desired publishing option to save the new content parent.
  5. The content item, and all of its children, if any, should now be located under the new content parent.

Editing Navigation/Menu Titles

Sometimes, when you create a content item, you might want the text which appears for a link to be different than the actual title of the page. For example, you might have a page "Title" of "About Us." However, you would prefer any links to this page to simply output as "About" instead. Mura CMS offers a convenient and easy method to accomplish this.

Follow the steps below to edit a content item's title fields.

  1. Select a content item to edit. If editing content on the front-end public-facing view of your site, you will need to use "Full Edit" mode.
  2. Open the Basic tab on the right-hand menu.
  3. There are several title options you can change:
    • Title: The actual title of the page you are editing. The page title will display as the headline or title on a given page.
    • Navigation Title (optional): You may enter an optional, shorter, or completely different title to be used wherever Mura generates navigational links to this content item. If this field is left blank, Mura will auto-generate the text based on the information entered in the "Title" field.
    • URL Title (optional): Text entered here will display in the browser's address bar. If you choose to customize this field, be sure to use URL-friendly characters (e.g., use only alpha-numeric characters, etc.). If this field is left blank, Mura will auto-generate the text based on the information entered in the "Title" field, in a URL-friendly manner by replacing spaces and punctuation with hyphens, etc.
    • HTML (Browser) Title (Optional): Text entered here will appear in the browser's "chrome" or "tab" typically located above the address bar. If this field is left blank, Mura will auto-generate the text based on the information entered in the "Title" field.
  4. If you wish to update the "Title", if you press the spacebar while in the Title field, a notice with a button to "Clear Additional Titles" should appear.
  5. If you would like Mura to regenerate all of the additional title fields based on the new text entered, simply click the "Clear Additional Titles" button, and Mura will wipe out the old values, and then update those fields once you publish the content item.
  6. After making your desired changes, select your preferred publishing option to save your changes.

Mobile Navigation

You can control the display of a link generated by Mura based on whether or not a visitor is accessing the site from a "mobile" device. This is quite useful when you might want to display mobile-specific content, which may not necessarily apply to someone accessing your site from a non-mobile device, and vice versa.

Note: Mura does not consider tablets, such as iPads, as mobile devices since they typically have screen real estate and resolution capabilities on par with most desktop and laptop computers.

Follow the steps below to control the display of a link to a specific content item when a user is accessing the site from a mobile or non-mobile device.

  1. Select a content item to edit. If editing content on the front-end public-facing view of your site, you will need to use the "Full Edit" mode.
  2. Select the Publishing tab from the Edit Content screen.
  3. Scroll down to the Mobile Navigation section.
    • Include for all:
      • A link will be generated by Mura regardless of which device type the visitor is using.
    • Include for Mobile Only:
      • If a visitor is accessing the site from a mobile device, Mura will generate a link to this content item. Otherwise, it will not appear in any Mura generated navigational elements.
    • Exclude from Mobile: 
      • If a visitor is accessing the site from a non-mobile device (e.g., tablet, desktop, laptop, etc.), Mura will generate a link to this content item. Otherwise, it will not appear in any Mura generated navigational elements.
  4. After you've chosen your desired option, simply select your preferred publishing option to save your changes.

Note: Just because a link is not generated by Mura doesn't mean the content is not "visible" per se. If a visitor knows the URL to the content item, they could still technically enter that URL in their address bar to see the content. If you wish to completely hide content item altogether, use the "Display" filed located on the same tab.

Permissions and Publishing

Throughout this section, you will find out how to create/manage groups and users, and learn the difference between Mura's roles and permissions. You'll also learn how to apply editing privileges to each group throughout the content area, and how to enable or restrict access to other areas of the administrator such as who can manage Categories, Collections, and more. Lastly, you'll learn about the variety of publishing workflow options, and possibly choose one that best fits your organization's needs.

 

Permissions

When it comes to permissions in Mura CMS, the most important thing to keep in mind is that all permissions are "group-based." So, instead of thinking about individual users, it's better to think in terms of groups. This concept applies whether we are talking about restricting access to a specific section of your site, or we are talking about "editing" privileges for various groups throughout your website. As you'll see, you can always create a group with only one individual assigned to it, if you really need to only allow one person access to something in particular.

That said, Mura CMS has included some very powerful features to assist you in setting up your desired permissions for various sections of the administration area, including the rights and privileges each group has when it comes to creating and managing content, or even accessing different areas of the front-end, public-facing side of your site.

 

Author vs. Editor Roles

Before you begin creating and granting/limiting "editing" privileges to any groups, it is important to understand the differences between the two primary "roles" within Mura CMS: Editor and Author.

  • Editor
    • Groups granted "Editor" permissions are able to "write" content, as well as "publish" content. This means they can create new content items, update existing content items, delete content items, and even publish content items (or, make them "live"), but only within the section(s) of the site where they have been granted these privileges.
  • Author
    • Groups granted "Author" permissions can only "write" content. This means they can create new content items, and update existing content items. However, they are unable to publish or delete content items.

In addition to these primary roles, you can also grant "Read Only" access, or even explicitly "Deny" access to any group(s) throughout the administration area.

You should keep these roles in mind when creating your groups. For example, you may have a section of your site where you want members of your "Marketing" group to be able to edit the content. However, you may not want everyone in the Marketing department to be able to have "Editor" permissions. So, instead of having a group called "Marketing", you could have a group of "Marketing Editors" and a group of "Marketing Authors", so you can segment your department to accommodate your needs.

 

Creating & Managing Groups

All permissions in Mura are group-based. As such, it's important to take time to think about the structure of your site, and how you wish to enable and/or restrict access throughout it. Also, as discussed in the "Author vs. Editor Roles" section, you should consider these roles/privileges when creating your groups.

There are two main "pools" of groups within Mura: System Groups, and Member Groups. The key difference between these pools of groups is System Groups have access to the back-end administration area of Mura, and Member Groups do not. This doesn't mean Member Groups cannot edit content, it simply means users of Member Groups cannot log in to the back-end administration area, unless they are also a member of a System Group.

This may sound somewhat confusing if you're new to managing groups and users. However, be patient, read through this entire section, and you will find Mura can accommodate some of the most complicated scenarios you can think of with ease.

How to Access Users & Groups

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, click Users from the primary navigation to reveal an additional set of menu items.
  2. To manage users, select Users.
  3. To manage groups, select Groups.
  4. You can also select Add User to add a new user, or Add Group, to add a new group.
  5. To delete a group, from the Users & Groups screen, select the three-dot menu on the row of the group you wish to delete, and click Delete.
  6. You should be prompted with an Alert dialog box. To confirm, select OK. To cancel, click Cancel.

System Groups

All System Groups have access to the back-end administration area of Mura. So, if you need to allow a user access to the back-end administration area, they must be a member of a System Group.

How to Access System Groups

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then Groups, and click the System Groups tab.
  2. By default, there is a single System Group labeled Admin. This group is required and cannot be deleted.

Admin System Group

The Admin System Group is created when Mura is first installed. You can't change the name, or delete it. Any users who are members of this group will automatically be granted the ability to:

  • Create and Manage System Groups and Member Groups
  • Create and Manage Users
  • Manage Permissions
  • Write and Publish Content
  • Access most areas of the administrator within the site
  • And more!

So, as you can see, members of the Admin System Group have quite a bit of access and privileges. Only users who have been granted "Super Admin User" privileges have more power than members of the Admin System Group.

How to Create/Manage a System Group

You will most likely want to create a number of System Groups to accommodate your organization's desires for enabling and/or restricting access to specific sections of your site.  Before creating any groups, it is a good idea of to have a clear picture of the sections and/or pages each group will be responsible for, and the permissions and roles you wish to grant them. Try not to think of the individual users themselves. Instead, think in terms of the group, even if the group may only contain one user.

Follow the steps below to create/manage a System Group.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then click Add Group.
  2. Complete the information on the Group Maintenance Form:
    • Group Type
      • Select System Group
    • Group Name
      • Enter a name for the group. For example, "Marketing".
    • Group Email
      • If your organization has an email address that includes all users of the group, you may enter it here. For example, "marketing@yourdomain.com".
    • Content UI Assignments
      • You may optionally restrict which tab(s) the group has access to when editing content. To select more than one tab assignment, <CTRL> + Click on a PC, or <Command> + Click on a Mac.
  3. Click the Add or Update button when finished to save your changes.
  4. Your new/updated group should be visible in the listing of System Groups
  5. Repeat these steps for each System Group you wish to add.

Member Groups

Member Groups do not have access to the back-end administration area of Mura. The primary use of Member Groups is to provide segmented access to specific areas of your site.

In addition to restricting access to specific areas of your site to certain Member Groups, you can also grant editing privileges to one or more Member Groups. This would allow those users the ability to only edit content from the front-end, public facing side of your site.

How to Access Member Groups

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then Groups, and click the Member Groups tab.
  2. There are no Member Groups created for you by default.

How to Create/Manage a Member Group

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then click Add Group.
  2. Complete the information on the Group Maintenance Form:
    • Group Type
      • Select Member Group
    • Group Name
      • Enter a name for the group. For example, "Employees" or "Board Members".
    • Group Email
      • If your organization has an email address that includes all users of the group, you may enter it here. For example, "employees@yourdomain.com".
    • Content UI Assignments
      • You may optionally restrict which tab(s) the group would have access to, if you are going to allow the group editing permissions. To select more than one tab assignment, <CTRL> + Click on a PC, or <Command> + Click on a Mac.
  3. Click the Add or Update button when finished to save your changes.
  4. Your new/updated group should be visible in the listing of Member Groups.
  5. Repeat these steps for each Member Group you wish to add.

How to Restrict Access to Content

One of the primary uses of Member Groups is to have a way to restrict access to various sections of your site to specific groups. For example, you might have a "Members Only" section of your site, where all users are required to log in. Then, from there, you could have additional sections of the site restricted to very specific groups, such as an "intranet" area for employees, and a "board member" area for board members.

Restricting access to a page, or section of your site, only hides the "body" area of your page. If a user is not logged in, by default, Mura will display the "Summary" field and a login screen. Hence, we do not recommend entering any sensitive information in the "Summary" field, unless you have been instructed to do so due to modifications made to Mura by your development team.

To restrict access to your entire site, a content item, or a specific section of your site, and follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate to the page or section of your site where you wish to restrict access to, and edit it.
  2. Select the Publishing tab.
  3. Scroll to the field labeled "Restrict Access to Specific Group(s)?"
    Note: This field will only appear if Extranet (Password Protection) is enabled via the Site Settings > Edit Settings > Modules tab.
  4. You may <CTRL> + click (via PC) or <CMD> + click (via Mac) to select more than one group.

Note: A commonly asked question is whether or not it is possible to hide navigational links to "restricted" pages if a user is not logged in. The short answer is no. However, only the top-most link would be visible, and no links to child content would be generated. This is why we typically recommend creating a "Members Only" section of your site, and then enforcing more specific restrictions to content beneath that.

Managing Group Members

To manage a group's members, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, click Users from the primary navigation to reveal an additional set of menu items, then select Groups.
  2. From the Users & Groups screen, select the three-dot menu in the row of your desired group, and click Members.
  3. You should be taken to the Group Maintenance Form screen, and see a listing of the group's users/members.
  4. If you click the three-dot menu in the row of any user you wish to modify, you will be presented with a menu of options to Edit the user, Remove User From Group, or even Delete the user entirely.
  5. To assign a member to a group, see the Add/Edit a User section, and review the Group Memberships Tab information.

Creating & Managing Users

The first thing to keep in mind when working with users in Mura is all permissions in Mura are group-based. So, if you haven't already done so, please be sure to read the section on Creating & Managing Groups before continuing.

Once you've created your desired groups, you're ready to begin adding users and assigning them to the various groups you've established. Users may belong to as many groups as you wish, and may belong to both System Groups and Member Groups under the same user account. In other words, you shouldn't have to create multiple user accounts for the same individual.

How to Access & Find Users

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then Users.
  2. The Site Members tab is enabled by default and lists users who belong to the Site Members pool of users. Site Members do not have access the back-end administration area of Mura.
  3. Click the System Users tab to view users who belong to the System Users pool of users.
  4. In a default installation of Mura, there is one user, created automatically, named "Admin User." However, during the installation process, the name and email address could have been changed to something else.
  5. From either tab, you have the ability to Download a list of users in .CSV format, by clicking the Download button above the listing of users.
  6. From either tab, you also have the ability to view a listing of users who have not been assigned to any specific group, by clicking the View Unassigned Only button.
  7. You can also easily identify "unassigned users" by the exclamation mark ("!") located directly to the left of the user's name. A "star" next to a user's name indicates they are a Super User.
  8. Search for users using the search box, located above the tabbed menu.
  9. Click the Advanced button, located next to the search box, to view the Advanced User Search screen.
  10. On the Advanced User Search screen, you can narrow your search by applying additional filters such as selecting a specific field, and desired criteria, then clicking the Search button.
  11. Results appear below the form, and are tabbed so you can locate both Site Members and System Users who match your desired search criteria.

 

Add/Edit a User

Follow the steps below to add/edit a User in Mura.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users, then Add User. Or, select an existing user from your list of users to edit.
  2. You should be taken to the User Maintenance Form.
    • Basic Tab
      • First Name (required)
        • Enter the user's First Name.
      • Last Name (required)
        • Enter the user's Last Name
      • Company
        • Enter the user's Company
      • Job Title
        • Enter the user's Job Title
      • Email (required)
        • Enter the user's Email address
      • Mobile Phone
        • Enter the user's Mobile Phone number
      • Username (required)
        • Enter a Username for the user to use when they log into Mura
      • Password (required)
        • Enter a Password for the user to use when they log into Mura. They will be able to change it after they log in.
      • Confirm Password (required)
        • Re-enter the Password entered in the previous form field
      • Profile Image
        • You may optionally upload a profile photo to use for the user.
        • If you wish to delete a Profile Image (if one exists), select the Delete checkbox, then click Update.
        • Click the image (if one exists), and you will be taken to the Image Details screen where you can Adjust Image Orientation, and adjust the crop areas of any predefined image sizes.
    • Address Information Tab
      • Street Address 1
        • You may enter a Street Address for the location
      • Street Address 2
        • Some addresses require a second line, and if so, you may enter that information here
      • City
        • You may enter a City for the location
      • State
        • You may enter a State for the location
      • Zip
        • You may enter a Zip Code for the location
      • Country
        • You may enter a Country for the location
      • Phone
        • You may enter a Phone number for the location
      • Fax
        • You may enter a Fax number for the location
      • Website (Including HTTP://)
        • You may enter a URL for the location
      • Email
        • You may enter a valid Email address for the location
      • Hours
        • You may enter the hours for the location
      • If editing an existing User, you may edit any existing address(es), or add additional addresses.
    • Group Memberships Tab
      • User Type
        • Site Member
          • If Site Member is selected, the User will not be able to log in to the back-end administration area of Mura. Site Members may only belong to "Member Groups."
        • System User
          • If System User is selected, the User will be able to log in to the back-end administration area of Mura. System Users may belong to both "Member Groups" and "System Groups."
      • System Groups
        • If User Type is set to System User, a listing of available System Groups will appear. You may assign the User to your desired groups here.
      • Member Groups
        • This section contains a listing of available Member Groups. You may assign the User to any desired groups here.
    • Interests Tab
      • You may optionally select any Categories that have been enabled for Interest Groups.
    • Advanced Tab
      • Super Admin Account
        • If Yes, the User will have all of the rights and privileges of a Super User.
        • If No, the User will not be a Super User.
      • Active
        • If Yes, the User will be able to log in, and use Mura within the permissions established.
        • If No, the User will be unable to log in, and is unable to use Mura.
      • Site
        • You may reassign a User to a different Site Pool here.
      • Tags
        • You may enter a comma-delimited list of Tags here. This meta-data is useful for grouping users.
      • Remote ID
        • This field is primarily used by developers and is typically tied to a primary identifying field on a third-party system.
  3. When finished, click the Add or Update button to save your changes.

The Super Admin User Account

Users designated as a "Super Admin Account" have the highest authority, rights, and control in Mura. These "Super Admin Users" can:

  • Create more Super Admin Users
  • Create & manage System Groups and Member Groups for any site
  • Create & manage System Users and Site Members for any site
  • Add new sites
  • Update the Site Settings of existing sites
  • Access and use features included under Global Settings
  • Full access to the File Manager
  • Ability to install, manage, and delete plugins
  • Create, publish, and modify content for any site
  • And much more!

In short, Super Admin Users can do pretty much anything and everything Mura offers. As noted in the first bullet, only Super Admin Users have the ability to designate other Super Admin Users. Also, Super Admin Users may, but don't necessarily have to, belong to any user group(s).

Yes, Super Admin Users have great power, and as the old saying goes, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Obviously, anyone you choose to designate as a Super Admin User must be someone you can trust.

How to Designate a Super Admin User Account

First and foremost, only Super Admin Users have the ability to designate other Super Admin Users. So, you must be logged in under a Super Admin User Account to perform these steps.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users from the main navigation, then Users.
  2. Locate and select the user you wish to designate under either the Site Members tab, or the System Users tab.
  3. From the User Maintenance Form, select the Advanced tab.
  4. Under Super Admin Account, select the Yes radio button.
  5. Click Update to save the change.
  6. The user account is now a Super Admin User. The user should now have a star icon next to their name in the System Users listing.

Managing Permissions

Before you begin the process of setting up permissions, you need to ensure you have created the groups you will be working with in Mura.

Once you have established the groups your organization desires, you can begin the process of enabling and/or restricting permissions for each group, throughout the various content sections of your site. You will also want to determine which group(s) have access, or do not have access, to various modules within Mura such as the Content Staging area, Categories, Collections, and so forth.

Here are the general steps in setting up permissions in Mura:

  1. Create Groups
  2. Create Users and assign them to groups
  3. Optionally share User Pools across various sites
  4. Let Mura know which group(s) are allowed to access to each specific site
  5. Let Mura know the roles/permissions each group has for Content, Components, Categories, Users, and Plugins
  6. Let Mura know the roles/permissions each group has for various Modules (e.g., Staging, Collections, Comments, and Forms)

 

User Pools

Mura allows resources, including Member User Pools and System User Pools, to be shared across multiple sites within the same Mura instance.

This is important to understand, because you could theoretically have all of your User Pools under one site, and share them across some, or even all, of the websites managed by Mura. When users are shared, Permissions are still controlled separately for each group on each site.

Because each organization has its own use cases and needs, there's not one, singular "best practice" to promote when it comes to User Pools.

That said, a common scenario might be where an organization is hosting both a public-facing website for their customers and a completely separate intranet for employee use only. In this scenario, you might want to be able to share the user groups for both sites, so those users will not have to maintain two separate login accounts. If so, you could easily share the "User Pools" of one site with the other.

Note: When sharing System User Pools, all users in the "Admin" group will have full administrator privileges on each site that is using its pool of System Users.

How to Share User Pools

To share User Pools, follow the steps below:

  1. In the Mura Admin area, select Site Settings from the main navigation, and then click Edit Settings.
  2. Click the Shared Resources tab to reveal all of the available "pools" you can share.
  3. If you would like to use the Member User Pool of another site, select it from the dropdown menu.
  4. If you would like to use the System User Pool of another site, select the desired site from the dropdown menu.
  5. Click the Save Settings button to save your changes.
  6. Next, you will need to establish the permissions for each group.

Site Permissions

Once you've established your user groups, created users and assigned them to those groups, and chosen whether or not to share User Pools across your various sites, you need to let Mura know which group(s) will be able to access each, specific site managed under the same installation of Mura. The only exception to this step is the default "Admin" group, which automatically has access and full editing privileges.

Allowing access to each specific site merely means that users assigned to the group will be able to log in. It will be up to you to establish the roles and privileges each group has throughout the various sections of your site. Also keep in mind, System Groups will be able to access the back-end administration area of Mura, and Member Groups will not be able to. This means users assigned to a "Member Group" will only be able to access the front-end editing features of a site, assuming you've granted them access to the site, and given them the appropriate permissions to do so.

If you skip this step, or forget to allow any groups access to the site, only users who belong to the "Admin" group will be able to access anything. For example, a user assigned to the System Group labeled "Marketing" who attempts to log in to the back-end administration area would see an "Access Denied" message, if her group has not been granted explicit access to the site.

Group Permissions

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, click Site Settings on the main navigation, and select Permissions.
  2. You should be taken to the Permissions screen.
  3. Simply select the checkbox for each group you wish to allow access to.
  4. Click Update, to save your changes.
  5. Next, you will need to specify the roles and privileges each group has throughout the various sections of your site.

Content Permissions

Before you begin granting or restricting editing privileges for content, ensure you have completed the first four steps outlined in the Managing Permissions section. You may also want to review the Author vs. Editor Roles section, before continuing.

Permissions cascade from the top-most content item, down through its children, grandchildren, and beyond. By default, all groups granted access to edit the site begin with "Deny" privileges, except for the "Admin" group. The Admin group automatically has full editing privileges throughout Mura.

How to Apply Permissions to Content

  1. From the Content screen, click the three-dot menu of the content item you wish to manage permissions for, and select Permissions. (Or from the content details view, click the Actions button, and select Permissions.)
  2. On the Permissions screen, select your desired options for each group.
    • Editor
      • Groups granted "Editor" permissions are able to "write" content, as well as "publish" content. This means they can create new content items, update existing content items, delete content items, and even publish content items (or, make them "live"), but only within the section(s) of the site where they have been granted these privileges. The "Admin" group automatically has Editor privileges throughout Mura.
    • Author
      • Groups granted "Author" permissions can only "write" content. This means they can create new content items, and update existing content items. However, they are unable to publish or delete content items.
    • Inherit
      • If selected, permissions applied to the content item's parent will be used. If the parent also has "Inherit" selected, then Mura will traverse up the tree until it finds an explicit setting. If it reaches the "Home" content item, and "Inherit" is selected, the permissions fall back to "Deny."
    • Read Only
      • If selected, users of the group will not be able to edit the content item, or any of its children, unless explicitly overridden with a different setting down the tree. This is very similar to the "Deny" setting, except clicking the three-dot menu of a content item will reveal "Copy" and "Copy All" options. That said, if they choose to Copy a content item with "Read Only" privileges, if the user chooses to "Paste" the content item in an area they have Author or Editor rights to, the content will retain its "Read Only" privileges.
    • Deny
      • This is the default setting for all groups, except the "Admin" group. If selected, users of the specified group will only be able to see the Title, and tree structure of the content. They will not be able to edit the content item, or any of its children, unless explicitly overridden with a different setting down the tree.
  3. Click Update, to save your changes.
  4. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

Note: A commonly asked question is whether or not there is a way to "hide" content, or sections of a site, from certain groups in the back-end administration area of Mura. While there's always a way to do something programmatically, the short answer is no. The primary reason is twofold: just because a group may not be able to edit a top-level section, the group may actually be granted editing privileges to its children or grandchildren, and secondly, Mura offers a way to allow for front-end editing only by assigning a user to a Member Group with editing privileges, instead of a System group.

Component Permissions

Managing permissions for components is very similar to managing content permissions, because components can be grouped together in a hierarchy, just like content. As you've seen in the Components section, you can nest a component, or a group of components together under a Folder, or other components. Not only does this make it easy from an organizational point of view, it really simplifies things from the viewpoint of enabling or restricting editing permissions as well.

As you've already learned, permissions cascade from the top-most item, down through its children, grandchildren, and beyond. By default, all groups granted access to edit the site begin with "Inherit" privileges, except for the "Admin" group. The Admin group automatically has full editing privileges throughout Mura.

How to Apply Permissions to Components

  1. From the Content screen, on the Tree View tab, click the Components button.
  2. Since all non-Admin groups begin with "Inherit" privileges, they will not be able to see the "Components" button on the Content > Tree View tab. For example, the following screen is what a "Marketing Group" user would initially see before permissions for components have been explicitly set. As you'll notice, this user is unable to see a "Components" button at all.
  3. The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether or not you want the group to be able to edit components by default. Then, you'll set permissions on the top-level "Components" item itself, and those permissions will cascade down through the rest of the components. So, if you explicitly set the group's permissions on the top-level Components item to "Deny," the group will be able to see the "Components" button on the Content > Tree View screen, and by default, they won't be able to actually edit anything, unless you explicitly set the group's role to "Editor" or "Author" by following the rest of the steps below. Conversely, if you set the group's permissions on the top-level Components item to "Editor" or "Author," the group will inherit those rights throughout the Components area, unless explicitly overridden somewhere down the tree. Follow the steps below for editing the permissions of the top-level Components item itself.
    • Editor
      • Groups granted "Editor" permissions are able to "write" components, as well as "publish" components. This means they can create new components, update existing components, delete components, and even publish components (or, make them "live"), but only within the section(s) of the site where they have been granted these privileges. The "Admin" group automatically has Editor privileges throughout Mura.
    • Author
      • Groups granted "Author" permissions can only "write" components. This means they can create new components, and update existing components. However, they are unable to publish or delete components.
    • Inherit
      • If selected, permissions applied to the component's parent will be used. If the parent also has "Inherit" selected, then Mura will traverse up the tree until it finds an explicit setting. If Mura reaches the topmost component, and "Inherit" is selected, the permissions fall back to "Deny."
    • Deny
      • This is the default setting for all groups, except the "Admin" group. If selected, users of the specified group will only be able to see the Title, and tree structure of the components. They will not be able to edit the component, or any of its children, unless explicitly overridden with a different setting down the tree.
  4. Click the three-dot menu of the component you wish to manage permissions for, and select Permissions.
  5. Or, if editing a component, click the Actions button, and select Permissions.
  6. From the Permissions screen, select your desired setting for each group.
  7. Click Update, to save your changes.
  8. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a users is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

 

Categories Permissions

While Content Managers can easily categorize content, only the Admin group is able to manage Categories by default. Allowing a group to manage Categories is an "all or nothing" thing. In other words, if a group has access to manage Categories, they can create, edit, and or delete all categories.

How to Apply Permissions to Categories

To allow groups the ability to create, edit, and or delete categories, follow the steps outlined below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Categories from the main navigation.
  2. On the Categories screen, click the Permissions button.
  3. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  4. Click Update, to save your changes.
  5. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

Users Permissions

Users who belong to the Admin group are automatically able to manage groups and users for both System Groups, and Member Groups. Mura also allows for the ability to delegate managing Member Groups and  Site Member users to other groups. The important thing to keep in mind here is that you cannot delegate another group to manage System Groups and System Users. Only members of the Admin System Group and Super Admin Users are able to manage System Groups and System Users.

How to Apply Permissions to Users

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Users, and click Users.
  2. On the Users & Groups screen, select the Site Members tab, if it's not already selected.
  3. Click the Permissions button.
  4. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  5. Click Update, to save your changes.
  6. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

Plugins Permissions

Although Mura is extremely powerful and has a multitude of useful features off-the-shelf, we recognize your organization may also require some custom functionality and/or applications to meet your organization's needs. Plugins allows developers to do just that. Often times, plugins have their own, custom administrative user interface, and while it's up to your developers to write the code to prevent unauthorized access, Mura allows for a way to collect data on which group(s) you wish to enable access for.

How to Apply Permissions to Plugins

It is extremely important to understand the steps outlined below merely collect the information on which group(s) you wish to enable access for to a particular plugin. Following the steps below will not, in and of themselves, prevent unauthorized access to the plugin. The developer(s) responsible for creating and/or maintaining the plugin are responsible for ultimately writing the proper code to obtain this data, and ultimately prevent and/or allow access to the specified group(s).

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Plugins from the main navigation, then click Site Plugins.
  2. You should see the Site Plugins screen, and a listing of any plugins which have been enabled for the specific site you are currently working with.
  3. Click the three-dot menu to the desired plugin, and select Permissions.
  4. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  5. Click Update, to save your changes.
  6. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.
  7. You will have to perform these steps for each site you wish to enable and/or restrict access for.

Form Permissions

Managing permissions for Forms is very similar to managing content permissions, because forms can be grouped together in a hierarchy, just like content. As you've seen in the Forms section, you can nest a form, or a group of forms together under a Folder, or other forms. Not only does this make it easy from an organizational point of view, it really simplifies things from the viewpoint of enabling or restricting editing permissions as well.

As you've already learned, permissions cascade from the top-most item, down through its children, grandchildren, and beyond. By default, all groups granted access to edit the site begin with "Deny" privileges, except for the "Admin" group. The Admin group automatically has full editing privileges throughout Mura.

How to Enable/Disable Forms Manager

To enable or disable the Forms Manager, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings.
  2. Select the Modules tab.
  3. Locate the field labeled Forms Manager, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it.
  4. Click Save Settings.

How to Apply Permissions to Forms

  1. From the Content screen, on the Tree View tab, click the Forms button.
  2. Since all non-Admin groups begin with "Inherit" privileges, they will not be able to see the "Forms" button on the Content > Tree View tab. For example, the following screen is what a "Marketing Group" user would initially see before permissions for forms have been explicitly set. As you'll notice, this user is unable to see a "Forms" button at all.
  3. The first thing you'll want to decide on is whether or not you want the group to be able to edit forms by default. Then, you'll set permissions on the top-level "Forms" item itself, and those permissions will cascade down through the rest of the forms. So, if you explicitly set the group's permissions on the top-level Forms item to "Deny," the group will be able to see the "Forms" button on the Content > Tree View screen, and by default, they won't be able to actually edit anything, unless you explicitly set the group's role to "Editor" or "Author" by following the rest of the steps below. Conversely, if you set the group's permissions on the top-level Forms item to "Editor" or "Author," the group will inherit those rights throughout the Forms area, unless explicitly overridden somewhere down the tree. Follow the steps below for editing the permissions of the top-level Forms item itself.
    • Editor
      • Groups granted "Editor" permissions are able to "write" forms, as well as "publish" forms. This means they can create new forms, update existing forms, delete forms, and even publish forms (or, make them "live"), but only within the section(s) of the site where they have been granted these privileges. The "Admin" group automatically has Editor privileges throughout Mura.
    • Author
      • Groups granted "Author" permissions can only "write" forms. This means they can create new forms, and update existing forms. However, they are unable to publish or delete forms.
    • Inherit
      • If selected, permissions applied to the form's parent will be used. If the parent also has "Inherit" selected, then Mura will traverse up the tree until it finds an explicit setting. If Mura reaches the topmost form, and "Inherit" is selected, the permissions fall back to "Deny."
    • Deny
      • This is the default setting for all groups, except the "Admin" group. If selected, users of the specified group will only be able to see the Title, and tree structure of the forms. They will not be able to edit the form, or any of its children, unless explicitly overridden with a different setting down the tree.
  4. Click the three-dot menu of the form you wish to manage permissions for, and select Permissions.
  5. Or, if editing a form, click the Actions button, and select Permissions.
  6. From the Permissions screen, select your desired options for each group.
  7. Click Update, to save your changes.
  8. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a users is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

 

Content Staging Permissions

If you have the Content Staging Manager enabled on your site, you may want to allow groups the ability to manage Change Sets within the Content Staging Manager. By default, Super Admin Users, and members of the Admin group are automatically able to manage Change Sets.

How to Enable/Disable Content Staging Manager

To enable or disable the Content Staging Manager, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings.
  2. Select the Modules tab.
  3. Locate the field labeled Content Staging Manager, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it.
  4. Click Save Settings.

How to Apply Permissions to Content Staging Manager

To allow groups the ability to manage Change Sets within the Content Staging Manager, follow the steps outlined below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Staging on the main navigation
  2. From the Content Staging screen, click the Permissions button
  3. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  4. Click Update, to save your changes.
  5. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

 

Collections Permissions

If you have enabled the Collections Manager, you may want to allow some groups the ability to manage Collections. By default, Super Admin Users, and members of the Admin group are automatically able to manage collections.

How to Enable/Disable Collections Manager

To enable or disable the Collections Manager, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings
  2. Select the Modules tab
  3. Locate the field labeled Collections Manager, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it
  4. Click Save Settings

How to Apply Permissions to the Collections Manager

To allow groups the ability to manage Collections, follow the steps outlined below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Collections on the main navigation
  2. From the Collections screen, click the Permissions button.
  3. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  4. Click Update, to save your changes.
  5. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

 

Comments Permissions

If you allow Comments to be posted to your website, you are definitely going to need someone to help manage those comments. By default, Super Admin Users, and members of the Admin group are automatically able to manage comments.

How to Enable/Disable Comments Manager

To enable or disable the Comments Manager, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings.
  2. Select the Modules tab.
  3. Locate the field labeled Comments Manager, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it.
  4. Click Save Settings

How to Require Approval of Comments

Some organizations prefer comments are moderated, or reviewed and "approved" before being posted for other visitors to the public-facing side of the site to see. To enforce this kind of process, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings
  2. Select the Basic tab
  3. Locate the field labeled "Allow Comments to be Posted Without Site Admin Approval.
  4. Select "No" to require approval of all comments, or "Yes" if you don't wish to approve all comments before they are posted.
  5. Click Save Settings

How to Apply Permissions to Comments Manager

To allow groups the ability to manage Comments, follow the steps outlined below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Comments on the main navigation
  2. From the Comments screen, click the Permissions button
  3. Select the checkbox under "Allow" for each group you wish to enable access for.
  4. Click Update, to save your changes.
  5. Users will obtain the new roles/privileges on their next successful login. So, if a user is logged in when the permissions were updated, they will have to log out, and then log back in, to see the changes.

 

Publishing Workflows

In this section, you will learn about the various publishing workflow options that are available to you. From little-to no workflow at all, to forcing all content to go through strict approval chains, Mura can accommodate your organization's publishing workflow needs.

Simple Publishing Workflow

As you learned throughout the Permissions section, all permissions are "group-based." As you've also learned in the Author vs. Editor Roles section, "Editors" can write and publish content, while "Authors" can only "write" content. Whether you realized it or not, these are the basic cornerstones of the most basic publishing workflow within Mura.

In short, granting a group "Editor" privileges means users in the group can already publish their content. So, there's no need to notify anyone to review their additions and/or changes before making it "live." However, restricting a group to "Author" privileges forces those users to notify someone with "Editor" privileges in order to publish their additions and/or changes.

How "Authors" Can Notify "Editors"

In smaller organizations, of course an "Author" might be able to simply ask a known "Editor" who might be nearby to log in and review their new content. Or, "Authors" could send their own email message to a known "Editor" as well. However, "Authors" could also follow the steps outlined below to leverage a baked-in feature of Mura to send an email with a link to review the content. The steps below aren not limited to "Authors" as they could also be used by "Editors," if they wish to notify someone else about their changes.

  1. When finished creating and/or updating a content item, select the Publishing tab.
  2. Towards the bottom of the Publishing tab, located the field labeled "Notify For Review."
  3. When you enable "Notify for Review" by clicking the checkbox, a couple of additional form fields should appear labeled "Send to" and "Message." The "Send to" field is a multi-select menu listing other users and their roles/privileges such as "Author" and "Editor." You may select users by using <CTRL> + click on a PC, or <CMD> + click on a Mac.
  4. If you wish to include a detailed message, you may enter it in the "Message" field. Otherwise, the default text will be sent.
  5. Click the Save Draft button, to save your changes, and an email will be sent to the selected user(s).

 

Content Staging

The Content Staging Manager provides a way to schedule a collection of content, via Change Sets, to publish at the same date and time. A Change Set is a group of content and related items, where you can apply changes you want to make "live" at the same moment. In addition to being able to simultaneously publish a group of content, you can preview a site as if the content assigned to specific Change Sets has been published, before it's actually published.

Some organizations may also be interested in using Mura's ability to force all changes to be published via Change Sets, versus allowing the traditional ability to publish one-off changes.

How to Enable/Disable the Content Staging Manager

To enable or disable the Content Staging Manager, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings.
  2. Select the Modules tab.
  3. Locate the field labeled Content Staging Manager, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it.
  4. Click Save Settings.

 

Create a Change Set

As previously mentioned, Change Sets are like buckets where you can toss all kinds of new content and updates together in one place. To create a Change Set, follow the steps below.

  1. From back-end administration area, select Staging on the main navigation
  2. This should display the Content Staging screen
  3. Click the Add Change Set button
  4. You should now see the Add Change Set screen.
    • Basic Tab
      • Name
        • A unique name for the Change Set (e.g., 2017 Summer Promo).
      • Description
        • A description that may be helpful for anyone viewing or editing the Change Set.
      • Close Date
        • The Close Date field may be used to prevent any users from adding more content after the specified date. This is useful so that users who need to review and/or approve the change set have time to do so, prior to the Change Set being published, which is why it's typically a good idea to enter a date and time at least a day or two ahead of the Publish Date.
      • Publish Date
        • This is the date and time all content assignments in the Change Set should go "live."
    • Categories Tab
      • You may categorize your Change Set by selecting your desired categories.
    • Tags Tab
      • You may enter a comma-delimited list of tags for the Change Set.
  5. Click Add, to save your new change set.

Assign Content to a Change Set

Mura allows you to add content items to Change Sets as well as Components and Forms. To add content to a Change Set, follow the steps below.

  1. Either create a new content item, or select an existing content item you wish to edit specifically for the Change Set.
  2. Once you have made your desired additions and/or changes, simply click the "Save to Change Set" button.
    Note: Only groups with "Editor" privileges will be able to see the "Save to Change Set" button.
  3. This should launch the Assign to Change Set dialog window. Select your desired Change Set from the list
  4. Or, select the radio button next to the "Add Change Set" text box, enter a "Title" for it
  5. Click Save, to save your changes to the Change Set
  6. Repeat these steps for all content you wish to add to the Change Set.

View Content Assignment List

Mura maintains a listing of all content that has been assigned to each Change Set. To view the assignments, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Staging from the main navigation
  2. You should be taken to the Content Staging screen
  3. From the list of available Change Sets, select the three-dot menu next to the Change Set you wish to view assignments for, and select the Assignments option
  4. You should be taken to the Change Set Content List screen. Any content, components, or forms that have been assigned to the Change Set, should be listed here

Preview a Change Set

Once you have added content to a Change Set, you can preview your site to see what it will look like once the Change Set has been published. To preview a Change Set, or obtain a URL to share with other team members, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Staging from the main navigation
  2. You should be taken to the Content Staging screen
  3. From the list of available Change Sets, select the three-dot menu next the your desired Change set, and select the Preview option
  4. Or, from the list of available Change Sets, select the three-dot menu next to the Change Set you wish to view assignments for, and select the Assignments option
  5. You should be taken to the Change Set Content List screen. Here, you either click the Preview Change Set button, or click the shareable URL
  6. The shareable URL may be used by people who don't even have an account in Mura, to see what the site would look like as if the changes were "live" or published. This is useful for organizations where people, such as managers, may want to see your changes, but not necessarily make any changes, or approve anything per se. As you can see in the image below, when a non-Mura use navigates to the shareable URL, an extremely limited version of Mura's front-end toolbar will appear at the top of the screen
  7. Hovering over the name of the Change Set will reveal a list of other Change Sets, as well as the option to select "None" to exit the preview
  8. Hovering over the next icon, will reveal a listing of content items included in the Change Set. You can click any of the links to navigate to the pages to view them in the future state as well
  9. The last icon on the front-end toolbar indicates whether or not the content item you're currently viewing is included in the Change Set. A checkmark indicates "Yes," and the universal symbol for No (or sometimes "Ban"), indicates the content item is not included.
     

Publish a Change Set

If you enter a Publish Date when creating a Change Set, the Change Set will automatically publish all of the content assignments on that date and time. However, there may be times when you wish to publish everything ahead of schedule. So, Mura also allows you to manually publish a Change Set at any time.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Staging from the main navigation
  2. You should be taken to the Content Staging screen
  3. From the list of available Change Sets, select the three-dot menu next the your desired Change set, and select the Edit option
  4. You should be taken to the Edit Change Set screen
  5. If you're ready to publish the Change Set, click Publish Now
  6. You should be presented with an Alert dialog window to confirm your decision to publish. Select "OK" to confirm, or "Cancel" to stop
  7. Assuming you selected "OK," your Change Set should now be "live" and viewable on the public-facing side of your site.

Roll Back a Change Set

If you have published a Change Set, and for some reason, you wish to "un-publish" it, you can do so using Mura's "Roll Back" feature. Follow the steps below to Roll Back a Change Set.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Staging from the main navigation
  2. You should be taken to the Content Staging screen
  3. From the list of available Change Sets, select the three-dot menu next the your desired Change set, and select the Edit option
  4. You should be taken to the Edit Change Set screen. You should also see a notice that the change set has been published
  5. Click the Roll Back button to un-publish your Change Set
  6. You should be presented with an Alert dialog window to confirm your decision to roll back. Select "OK" to confirm, or "Cancel" to stop
  7. Assuming you selected "OK," your Change Set should now revert back to un-published.
     
    Note: Any "new" content which was originally assigned to the Change Set will still be "published." This behavior may change in a future version of Mura.

Enable/Disable Publish via Change Sets Only

If desired, you can force all content changes to be published through Change Sets, versus the standard publishing process. To enable or disable this feature, follow the steps below.

  1. From the back-end administration area of Mura, select Site Settings, then click Edit Settings
  2. Select the Modules tab
  3. Locate the field labeled Publish via Change Sets Only, then select "On" to enable it, or "Off" if you wish to disable it
  4. Click Save Settings

Approval Chains

Approval chains are collections of pre-defined publishing workflows where content must be approved by specified user groups, in a specific order, before the content is considered "live" and available for viewing on the public-facing side of your site.

For many organizations, teams responsible for managing content may be somewhat small, consisting of only a few people. However, they are typically responsible for reviewing and editing work from a much larger group of content contributors. Using a workflow that includes approval chains streamlines how and when publishing tasks happen, making everyone's job cleaner and much easier.

Create an Approval Chain

Only members of the Admin System Group and Super Admin Users have the ability to create, modify, and apply approval chains. Mura can automatically send email notifications to members of each group in the approval chain to inform them a review is needed.

Follow the steps below to create approval chains.

  1. From the back-end administration area of your site, select Site Settings on the main navigation, and click Approval Chains.
  2. You should see the Approval Chains screen, listing any existing approval chains.
  3. Click the Add Approval Chain button.
  4. The Edit Approval Chain screen should appear.
    • Name
      • Enter a name for the approval chain. If your organization will be utilizing more than one approval chain, you may want to use some descriptive text for the name so that it's easier to remember where you desired to apply the approval chain. For example, if you want to create a specific approval chain for the "News" section of your site, you could use "News Approval Chain" for this field.
    • Description
      • This is text area for you to enter descriptive notes to inform other administrators what the approval chain is being used for.
    • Available Groups (Drag from here...)
      • This area lists all System Groups for the site. Using your mouse, you can "click and drag" your desired group from this section, move it over to the "Groups in this Approval Chain" area, and then release your mouse button to assign it to the approval chain. Then, repeat this process for each group you wish to be in the approval chain itself.
    • Groups in this Approval Chain (...then drop and set the order here.)
      • Groups listed here are merely the groups required for reviewing content before it is finally published and "live" for the public-facing side of your site. Approval chains do not affect "permissions" for creating or updating content within any section of a site where the approval chain has been applied, they merely force content to go through a review process. If you wish to establish permissions, please visit the Managing Permissions section.
      • The first group in the chain will be the first group required to make the decision to "Approve" or "Reject" any additions or changes. The order number listed next to the group name indicates the order each group is required to review the content.
      • You can also reorder the chain by clicking on the desired group you wish to move, dragging it to the desired location, and then releasing your mouse.
      • To remove a group from the approval chain, "click and drag" the group back to the "Available Groups" area, and release your mouse button.
  5. Click Update, to save your approval chain.
  6. Repeat these steps to create any additional approval chains.

Now that you've created your approval chain(s), you'll want to apply the approval chain(s) to your site, or selected areas of your site.

How to Apply an Approval Chain

After you've created your desired approval chains, you will want to apply the approval chains to the desired areas of your site, to enforce your publishing workflows. Approval chains may be applied to content, components, and forms. Also, approval chains flow through to any descendants, unless explicitly overridden by a different approval chain option down the tree.

Keep in mind, approval chains do not affect "permissions" for creating or updating content within any section of a site where the approval chain has been applied, they merely force content to go through a review process. If you wish to establish permissions, please visit the Managing Permissions section.

However, only groups with Editor privileges will be able to submit content, components, or forms for approval. Groups with Author privileges will only be able to use the Simple Publishing Workflow. Some organizations may want to consider changing a group's privileges from Author to Editor after applying the approval chain, so they may be able to submit content for approval, instead of having to notify an Editor, who must then submit it for approval.

To apply an approval chain, follow the steps outlined below.

  1. From the back-end administrator of Mura, click Content from the main navigation.
  2. Navigate to the desired content item/section, component, or form, click the three-dot menu, and click Permissions. You may also apply your approval chain to the topmost item in the desired tree, which would then become the default approval chain applied to all descendants.
  3. You should see the Permissions screen.
  4. Notice the column of checkboxes labeled Approval Chain Exempt, next to each group listed under both System Groups, and Member Groups. The checkbox is automatically enabled for the Admin System Group, and cannot be disabled. The checkboxes for all other groups will be read-only, unless the group is granted Editor privileges. If you select a checkbox for any other group(s) with Editor privileges, members of the selected group(s) will not have to submit anything for approval, and will be exempted from the approval chain process. Some organizations may choose this option if there is only one group in the selected approval chain, and they wish to exclude the group from having to submit their own content for approval.
  5. Towards the bottom of the Permissions screen, locate the section of the form titled Approval Chain.
  6. Choose your desired option from the Select Approval Chain select menu.
  7. Click the Update button, to save your changes.
  8. Repeat these steps for each section you wish to apply a different approval chain.

Summary

In this section, you've learned how to create/manage groups and users, and learned the difference between "author" and "editor" roles. You also learned how to apply editing privileges to each group throughout the content area, and also how to enable or restrict access to other areas of the administrator such as who can manage Categories, Collections, and more. Lastly, you learned about the variety of publishing workflow options, and most likely discovered the one that best fits your organization's needs.